Council goes for gold and gets the gong

Published on 24 June 2026

Scenic Rim Regional Council has won a Gold Award for Excellence in Reporting, the only Queensland local government to receive this prestigious Annual Reporting Awards honour in 2026.

After winning Silver as a first-time entrant in 2025, Council committed to go for gold and achieved its goal with its 2024-2025 Annual Report being ranked among leading private and public sector organisations in the 2026 Australasian Reporting Awards held in Sydney last week.

Scenic Rim Mayor Tom Sharp said the award win reflected Council's commitment to continuous improvement.

"The awards are presented for reports which meet the high international standards of professionalism, transparency and disclosure demanded by the ARA and Scenic Rim's Gold Award is certainly an achievement for our region," he said.

Held annually since 1950 by the ARA, a not for-profit organisation established to encourage effective communication of financial and business information, the awards are a major event in the reporting sector in Australia, New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific region.

Gold Award winners this year included public and private sector organisations from around Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Malaysia and included the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Civil Aviation Safety Authority, CPA Australia, Deakin University, Rio Tinto, National Health and Medical Research Council, Wesfarmers Limited and local governments from New Zealand, New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia.

Winning reports achieved overall excellence in annual reporting, provided high-quality coverage of all aspects of the ARA criteria, provided full disclosures of key aspects of the core business, addressed current legislative and regulatory requirements and were considered a model for other reports to follow.

Scenic Rim's 2024-2025 Annual Report was judged as a solid effort for a small council and showed improvements from the previous year. It was considered an attractive, well written report with good layout and graphically easy to read with an excellent financial summary section based on the Corporate Plan.

ARA Chair Alan Colegate told guests at the presentation dinner in Sydney that high-quality reporting played an important role in creating sustainable and responsible organisations.

"This evening is about celebrating achievement, applauding innovation and recognising the very best in reporting across Australia," he said.

"For more than seven decades the ARA Awards have played a vital role in lifting the standard of reporting.

"Organisations are benchmarked against rigorous criteria and recognised with Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards - symbols of excellence that are highly respected across industries and sectors."

Attached image: Annual report author Acting Communications Coordinator Lisa Stubbs accepts the award on behalf of Council from ARA Director Stephen Varady (left) and ARA Chair Alan Colegate.